One aspect associated with the widespread usage of communication networks generally, in the Internet particularly, has been the emergence of electronic marketplaces. Electronic marketplaces typically are a network site that offers an interface, such as a Web page, to consumers via a communication network. In one embodiment, the electronic marketplace can facilitate the sale of a wide variety of items that are offered by multiple merchants via the electronic marketplace. In this embodiment, the electronic marketplace can maintain a centralized catalog of items offered for sale by each merchant along with information about the specific items offered by the merchant. The centralized catalog approach provides consumers with a mechanism for comparing merchandise, comparing prices, and making their purchases from a wide variety of merchants all within the same electronic marketplace.
Given the potential large volumes of items being offered for sale by a wide variety of merchants, the information concerning the items provided by the merchant becomes very important. In a specific example, two or more merchants may be offering the same item, or relatively the same, for sale, which facilitates price comparison and purchasing diversity. At the same time, however, it can be difficult for the electronic marketplace to select the information that best describes each particular item, especially if there are differences between the information provided by each merchant. For example, each merchant may provide slightly different information that describes aspects of an item for sale, such as item title/name, descriptions, etc. Accordingly, the electronic marketplace may have to make decisions as to the information that is provided to a consumer in the electronic marketplace, generally referred to as information reconciliation. Current approaches to information reconciliation relate to a manual analysis of each submission and/or an arbitrary selection of information from a designated merchant.